The making of laborer subjectivity and knowledge in the information industry: Gender dimensions of free and open source development
Year: 2013
Type: article
Abstract: This study examines female software developers as knowledge laborers with a special emphasis on free and open source software (FOSS) development.In examining female developers as knowledge laborers, this study focuses on both labor and knowledge.Women's low participation in FOSS development is not an issue of recent years, but a consequence of women's overall status in the computing field over the last three decades.In order to explicate women's low participation in FOSS development, a broader historical and economic analysis is needed.Thus, this study explores the historical context of computer science education and industry in the 1980s since this is when the groundwork for FOSS development was laid.Furthermore, the power of cultural discourses that maintain and reinforce the gendered construction of FOSS development is discussed to unpack how the gendered construction is interrelated with the labor relations in the knowledge industry.In addition to the labor relations in FOSS development, this study attends to the knowledge produced by FOSS development.Knowledge gains importance as a sum of values of the knowledge producers.Source codes written by software developers turn into products that engage users with certain utility.Female FOSS developers produce knowledge that reflects their values constructed from their embodied experiences.Attention to the voices of female FOSS developers is significant as their different experiences lead to the ways in which knowledge is produced within FOSS communities.iii For all female workers, who live with and live through everyday struggles.iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This dissertation would not have been possible without support and guidance from the committee members, colleagues, friends, and family.I would like to thank them for being part of my dissertation journey.I owe the committee members a debt of the deepest gratitude.The work they have produced and the scholars they have mentored, even if I do not repeat, tell how scholarly great they are.They have been intellectually stimulating for the last two years of dissertation advising.Beyond their academic guidance, each of the committee members has shown the highest integrity as a person, which I truly respect.Dr. Radhika Gajjala, my advisor, was not only the greatest mentor in my years at Bowling Green State University, but also one of my dearest friends.She always had me feel supported, respected, and loved.Dr. Oliver Boyd-Barrett was eagerly attentive to my research and gave both wider perspectives and deeper insights.His modest attitude, while being a highly considered scholar, inspired me to be self-reflexive.Dr. Tori Ekstrand's warm encouragement made the time of dissertating pleasant.Especially, I want to thank her for leading my research to have clear, practical implications.
Author: Yeon Ju Oh
Institution: Bowling Green State University
Language: English
Subfield: Computer Science Applications
Field: Computer Science
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2524005072